September 20, 2016
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of “Book It” today, we’re going to look at a piece of WWE history that I feel has unjustly been completely forgotten That piece of history occurred in the year 2010. I remember the launch of a group of young upstarts known as The Nexus.
That’s because in 2010 a group of men made their debut on WWE television by completely destroying the ring side area, attacking announcers, producers, destroying the ring, and laying waste to the face that runs the place John Cena. I walked in toward the end of the segment, (This was in the days before DVR was standard almost everywhere) and I remember thinking, what in the hell is going on? It has such a hint of reality to it that it almost blew my mind. I remember thinking “Who are these guys?” and “What are they going to do with them?”
The answer to that was strange, because over the course of the next year and a half, we watched two incarnations of the group: one lead by Wade, the other lead by CM Punk, take shape.
When you look through the history and realize that the men that are left on the roster of Nexus it’s quite a surprise, they include now: Bray Wyatt, Curtis Axel, Darren Young, David Otunga, and Daniel Bryan though he doesn’t wrestle. The group, as a whole quietly disbanded, never really getting an actual send off and blowing the characters up to a different level (though it wouldn’t have worked for some of the guys in the incarnation they were in at the time)
But, lets weigh it for a minute and say that WWE hadn’t just quietly disbanded the group, would there have been a way to make the group, and the individuals as a whole, bigger then they were? To be honest, as I sit here writing this article it’s hard to picture and think that WWE really missed the mark on these guys before you hate me though, let me explain.
Daniel Bryan, wasn’t green by any means but he was enamored by the sheer weight and size of what he was in front of. That’s apparent when you go back and look at him when he started in WWE. While he was a fantastic competitor, he wasn’t ready for a role that he’d later receive. The only problem that I have in the way this whole thing played out, was that I wish they would have given DB a run sooner then they did.
Ryan Reeves, later known as Ryback, was in a similar boat as DB without the experience to back him up. Ryback, was so far away from ready at the time that pushing him to the top then would have ruined what career he did have.
Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty both suffered the same problem, they didn’t have the right character and gimmick. Curtis Axel, and Bray Wyatt were born. Honestly, I’m extremely happy with Bray Wyatt, I just wish they would push him further then they tend to. As far as Axel, I liked the character but it seems to have taken a back seat after the Social Outcast experiment.
Heath Slater, Darren Young, and David Otunga, are the only three remaining on the roster with their original names. Two of them underwent some character tweaks, and on is no longer wrestling period, but Heath seems to be finding his grove finally, and Darren seems to be on an upswing in his career provided he can make something out of it. Both of those men are decent wrestlers, that still really need to find the way they excel.
Last, is Wade Barrett. This is the one part of the equation that I feel WWE fucked up. Wade had a lot of potential out of the gate, and each and every week he got better and better, both in the ring and on the mic. When he was given the Bad News Barrett gimmick prior to his leaving, I thought they’d finally figured out what they had, but that wasn’t the case. At the end of the day Wade would go on to be released, and be one of these talents that WWE did in fact miss the boat on.
Overall, other then the quiet dissolution Nexus did what it intended to do, which wasn’t how I felt when I developed this particular post idea. But, when you break down the evidence you have to realize that WWE did the right thing with nexus and they did well making stars out of what they had.
Next week, we talk about the mysterious leader of the shield that was never revealed. Until then, be sure to follow/Friend me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter, and join my mailing list to get your hands on some of the fiction that I’ve got available. Until next week, I’m Kyle Robinson closing the book on this subject.